Cultural History of Twin Beds

Hilary Hinds is Professor of Literary Culture at Lancaster University, UK.

"Delving through marriage guidance and medical advice books, furniture catalogues and novels, Lancaster University professor Hilary Hinds found that twin beds were initially adopted in the late 19th century as a health precaution. […] Hinds's book lays out how, by the 1930s, twin beds were commonplace in middle-class households. But by the 1940s, writes Hinds, 'they can occasion an unmistakable curl of the lip' and are 'no longer the preserve of the health-conscious forward-thinking middle classes'." – The Guardian"Elegantly written and thoroughly researched, Hilary Hinds' fascinating book demonstrates the shifting role played by the twin bed in the histories of hygiene, consumer culture, sexuality and marriage. Hind reveals the twin bed to be a forgotten actor in late 19th- and 20th-century efforts to reimagine and reform domestic relations." – Garrett A. Sullivan Jr., Pennsylvania State University, USA"Twins or double? Tucked away behind the neutral hotel-room options, Hilary Hinds uncovers a compellingly curious 20th-century cultural history. A fascinating story of changing domestic and marital values." – Rachel Bowlby, University College London, UK"This fascinating cultural history offers fresh perspectives on public health, domestic hygiene, marital sexuality and even modernity itself." – Laura Doan, University of Manchester, UK"Highly original in content and approach, A Cultural History of Twin Beds presents an exciting and novel historical story and sets up a good model for future studies of domestic objects." – Journal of British Studies"Lancaster University professor Hilary Hinds explores couples’ bedtime habits in A Cultural History of Twin Beds […] She found that, up until the 1950s, the notion of sharing a bed was regarded as old-fashioned and unhealthy. More than half a century on in 2020, the opposite is true." – Vogue

• List of FiguresSeries Preface: Why Home?AcknowledgementsIntroduction: At Home with Twin Beds1. Double or Twin?Part One: Hygiene 2. Air in the Bedroom3. Vital Force4. Coda: Modern SleepPart Two: Modernity5. Anti-Victorianism and the Modern Home6. Modern by Design7. Coda: The Mise-en-Scène of Modern MarriagePart Three: Marriage8. At Home with a Stranger9. Marie Stopes and Modern Marriage10. Late Victorian Marital Advice11. Abstinence and Ambivalence12. Twin Beds: The Literary VerdictConclusion: Together and ApartNotesReferencesIndex